Physico-chemical characteristics of borehole water quality in Gassol Taraba State, Nigeria

Abstract

Many people in Africa depend on water from borehole, but purity of the drinking water from this source remains questionable. In a bid to ascertain the health risk local people are exposed to, this study analyses the physico-chemical characteristics of borehole water in Gassol Local Government Area (LGA), Nigeria. For this purpose, water samples were collected from the 12 administrative wards in the LGA. Two samples were collected from each ward, one in the rainy season (March) and another in the dry season (November), a total of 24 water samples in all. The water samples were analyzed for 18 different physical and chemical parameters to ascertain their comparability with the guideline levels recommended by the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) and World Health Organization (WHO). Results show that most parameters were within the guideline values in both seasons except for turbidity, pH, fluoride (F-), chlorine (Cl +), iron (Fe 2+), ammonia (NH 4 +) and manganese (Mn 2 +). Overall, all of the wards had at least one instance in which a parameter falls outside recommended guideline. A further analysis using the mean value test approach to assess level of contamination relative to guideline values showed that the upper bound value (US 95) of turbidity, iron, pH and chlorine are greater than their guideline values. This indicates that these are the parameters for which the most urgent action is needed. The high concentration of iron and turbidity outside the prescribed limits in the rainy season suggests that water managers need pay more attention to borehole water quality in the rainy season. There is need for further research across the region to better understand the quality and the contaminants (natural and anthropogenic) of borehole water so as to be able to proffer appropriate remediation strategy.

Bacteriological Quality of Borehole and Sachet Water from a Community in Southeastern Nigeria

“…In Africa, many people rely on water from a borehole, but the purity of the drinking water from this source remains questionable [39,40]. The high heterotrophic count found in Area "2" of the community studied suggests that the groundwater of that area may be contaminated.…”

Quality Assessment of Surface and Ground Water of Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria

“…High concentration of fluoride contaminant in the water samples of the study area tends to be in association with crystalline rocks containing fluorine-rich minerals, especially granites and volcanic rocks, shallow aquifers in arid areas experiencing strong evaporation, sedimentary aquifer undergoing ion exchange and inputs of geothermal water.. However, when present in drinking water at concentrations much above the guideline value of 1.5mg/L, long term use can result in the development of dental fluorosis or at its worst bone fluorosis [12] and [21].…”

“…It is caused by particles suspended or dissolved in water that scatter light making the water appeared cloudy or murky. Generally, turbidity has no direct health effects; however, it can interfere with disinfection and provides a medium for microbial growth [12]. The results of turbidity for stream water in Table 1 ranges from 4.45±2.42 NTU recorded in Pella and 6.73±0.06 NTU recorded in Hong.…”

“…Providing safe drinking water is one of the most complex challenges facing African rural communities. The continent has the highest number of people lacking access to safe, drinkable water, more than 3.4 million of people die each year from water sanitation and hygiene-related causes and majority of these are in Africa [12]. Traditionally many societies have depended on surface water resulting in diseases such as, bilharzia, sleeping sickness, river blindness, guinea worm, diarrhoea etc [13].…”

Assessment of Physicochemical Characteristics of Selected Borehole Waters in Oke-Oyi Community, Ilorin East Local Government Area, Kwara State

“…The result of the conductivity (Table 1) shows that the conductivities of all the water samples are within permissible limit of WHO except for OKY 1 (Istifanus et al, 2013;Olalekan et al, 2015). However, it is observed that the mobility of ions in solution is slightly high in all the water samples.…”